Using Philosophical and Economic analysis to consider big questions, world issues and matters of everyday life!

Sunday, 30 April 2017

When Will The Pope Stop Being A Crazy Cat Over Capitalism?

Pope Francis had harsh
words for libertarians at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences on Friday.
He pontificated about the ills of 'radical selfishness'; said that the
libertarian individual is 'anti-social' and that he 'denies the value of the
common good'.

If I were a Catholic, I'd
be thoroughly embarrassed that the head of my church was so abjectly uninformed
about such a big subject. I know Catholics believe in miracles - well here's
one right in front of them, because it's fairly miraculous that one individual
could cram so much nonsense into one short speech.

On the charge of 'radical selfishness'
- it's true that a free market is about individuals pursuing their own goals -
but as Adam Smith reminds us, this acts as a social mechanism that channels
collective objectives toward meeting the needs of the people that make up that
society, by ensuring competition between buyers and suppliers, which channels
the profit motive of individuals into providing products that society desires
at prices they are willing to pay.

In other words, a society
of individuals pursuing their own good leads to an increase in the common good,
not a decrease, because trade improves the lives of all who partake in it. And far from making
us anti-social, it encourages social co-operation as providers must seek the
needs and wants of society in order to provide what they require. Pope Francis's
attack on libertarianism is a straw man attack, completely misunderstanding the
thing he condemns.

Moreover, the Pope's anti-capitalist narrative is contradictory. Suppose I wanted to see a physically healthier Britain but I
also wanted to quell the evils of physical exercise, you'd probably think me
quite a strange and misguided fellow. My mistake would be a silly one to make,
but it's not all too dissimilar to the mistake the Pope makes when he talks
about how we need to temper the woeful profit motive of capitalism if we are to
bring an end to poverty.

The free market is literally the aggregation of the
billions of mutually beneficial exchanges between willing suppliers and
consumers every day all over the world. Profit is made when value is created,
and value is only created when people supply things that consumers need or
want, whether it's food, clothes, electricity, computers, holidays, new
technology, fresh knowledge or better medicines.

I'm all for encouraging
people to be motivated by love, kindness, generosity and philanthropy, but
being down on the profit motive is, in most cases, to be guilty of picking the
wrong battle based on an erroneous interpretation of the so-called enemy.

If the Pope is concerned
about helping eradicate poverty, as he is perfectly right to be, he would do
much better if preached the kind of message conveyed here,
here,
here,
here,
and here.

About Me

This is the Blog of James Knight - a keen philosophical commentator on many subjects.
My primary areas of interest are: philosophy, economics, politics, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, theology, psychology, history, the arts and social commentary.
I also contribute articles to the Adam Smith Institute and the Institute of Economics Affairs.
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